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Those who do so go through to a cloned Revenue website where they are asked to divulge passwords, credit card or bank details.

Victims who give this information
risk having money stolen from their bank accounts or their personal
details used for identity fraud.

Unlike previous more amateur phishing
scams, this latest version is well written, in good English and mimics
the Revenue’s website.

A Revenue spokesman said: ‘We never send notifications of a tax rebate
by email or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by
email. To be safe, do not select links in the emails and simply forward
them to us at phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting the original.’

The Revenue’s own online security page warns taxpayers to look out for
bogus email addresses, but this latest scam appears to replicate a
legitimate HMRC address.

The spokesman added: ‘While we don’t
have the authority to investigate the people behind these scams, as they
are often run from countries across the world, HMRC works with other
law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas to investigate and shut
down phishing attacks.

‘Scam networks have been closed in a number of countries, including
Austria, Mexico, the UK, South Korea, the US, Thailand and Japan.’